The famed boardwalk in Venice, California, has reportedly turned into a large, “dangerous” homeless encampment, according to fed-up residents who are calling for action amid a series of crimes and drug use in the area.
The LA neighborhood — site of the free-spirited boardwalk frequented by colorful street performers entertaining visitors strolling by funky stores — has been hit with a spate of violent incidents, Fox News reported.
On April 28, a man survived a shooting at the coastal hotspot known for its bohemian spirit, the LAPD told the network. A recent explosion caused a fire inside one of the encampments dotting the walkway known as Ocean Front Walk.
Residents and merchants are dismayed over the recent incidents, which occurred amid the expansion of local unsightly encampments, as well as a citywide homeless crisis that has grown worse in recent years, according to the news outlet.
Over five years, the homeless population has increased by 50 percent, Fox News reported, citing a January report from the Luskin Center for History and Policy at UCLA.
Kevin Buttress, 32, who owns the Xquisite Barber Lounge, told Fox News he was attacked in November by a pit bull owned by a homeless person and was knocked out cold with a skateboard.
“I’ve given a lot of myself to the community of Venice Beach,” said Buttress, who has owned his businesses for five years. “And to see everything just fall to pieces, it’s messed up.”
He said his alleged attacker was collared but released days later amid efforts by LA County officials to reduce the number of inmates over concerns about the spread of COVID-19.
During the pandemic, almost 200 tents have been erected on the boardwalk, according to a letter signed by hundreds of residents, Fox News reported.
“Venice’s world famous beach and boardwalk are crippled,” the letter states. “Local children are refusing to come to the beach because they’re frightened by what they’ve witnessed. Seniors who live on or near the boardwalk are terrified of walking in their own neighborhoods.”
Venice Neighborhood Council member Soledad Ursua said store owners used to clear some of the tents but that months of lockdowns and business closings amid the pandemic have led to a surge in the number of encampments.
“You make sure to get home by dusk,” Ursua told Fox News. “There’s fights multiple times a day on the Ocean Front Walk … stabbings, shootings are happening weekly. It’s just a very dangerous time to be a Venice resident right now.”
Violent robberies in the neighborhood have jumped by 177 percent and the number of cases of assault with a deadly weapon involving a homeless person have spiked by 162 percent, according to LAPD stats the council shared with Fox News.
In January, a fire that apparently started at an encampment spread to a building on the boardwalk and destroyed it, the Los Angeles Fire Department told the outlet.
Last month, a family pooch was killed in a house fire that some believe was started by local homeless people.
Togo “became the latest victim of Venice’s continued degeneration when a transient threw an accelerant into his home, burning him alive,” an online tribute says, according to Fox News.
Mike Bonin, the local councilman, told the outlet in a statement: “The surest way to prevent fires at homeless encampments is to help people move off the streets, out of encampments, and into housing or shelter.”
He said he was working with the fire department on a new program that would focus on engaging the homeless in an effort to prevent fire risks and to respond to emergencies.
Buttress said shelters aren’t the solution since many homeless are happy living on the beach.
“Most of them are content with living on the beach because they don’t want to have a curfew … somebody giving any rules and [them] not being able to do the drugs that they do and not be able to behave the way they want to behave,” he told Fox News.
